Editors' Picks

In the past, to get rid of unwanted pregnancies, Armenian women used to jump off wardrobes, insert pipes into their uteruses or drink various “potions.“ Now, they often just purchase Cytotec, a preventive medication for stomach ulcers that can induce abortions, and try to carry out the procedure themselves at home.

These two blog posts by Global Chaos and Scary Azeri were originally published as part of a series for an online project giving space to alternative voices on the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the dis

These two blog posts by Scary Azeri and Global Chaos were originally published as part of a series for an online project giving space to alternative voices on the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over t

In a region widely criticized for its human rights record, a handful of activists in Kyrgyzstan are attempting to enact significant reforms in how the state defends transgender individuals from harassment.

When Turkish rail workers began construction on a tunnel that would connect Europe and Asia and relieve traffic congestion in the heart of Istanbul in 2004, they hoped to finish the project by 2010. What they didn’t count on was the discovery of the city’s largest Byzantine-era harbor, Port Theodosias, along the way.

The more digging that takes place around Red Star Enterprises Ltd and Mina Corp, companies at the center of a US congressional probe into Pentagon contracting practices in Kyrgyzstan, the murkier the companies’ corporate structures and affiliations get.

The former head of Manas International Airport in Kyrgyzstan is facing a corruption charge in connection with the sale of Aalam Services, the main fuel depot at Manas Airport, to Manas Aerofuels, a company allegedly controlled by Maxim Bakiyev, the son of the Central Asian nation’s ousted president.

A game of free-speech cat-and-mouse is moving into another media sphere in Azerbaijan, where officials in Baku are mulling the introduction of a licensing system for online radio and TV operations. Media rights advocates are decrying licensing plans as a means of control over the free flow of information.

The two enterprises at the center of a US congressional investigation into fuel contracting practices at Kyrgyzstan’s Manas Transit Center maintain an official mailing address at a low-rent London public housing complex. But the entities have retained the services of a super high-gloss Washington, DC, public relations firm that has strong connections to the Bush-Cheney administration.